Apple is thinking about having water exposure detector in iPhone

What is one of a pretty frequent reasons for your shiny new iPhone, or any mobile phone for that matter, to go bad?

I’d say spilling a coffee on it, or dropping it into a water somewhere. We all know that water is bad for electronics, but this sh$#& happens quite often.

Then, we may try to dry it and hope the whole thing works again. And, the less honest among us, may take the iPhone to the store, and claim that “… it stopped working and I have no idea why…”

Looks like Apple had a fair share of such claims. It is now thinking about installing water exposure detectors into the iPhones and iPods, so a technician can see what the problem is with a single glance, and tell you that the warranty is void, without even opening the darn thing.

The water exposure detector can be made to be seen by everyone, as a seprate opening in the device. Or it can be installed inside the headphone jack and require an additional simple tool to view.

I won’t go into the technical details of how it will be achieved. Looks a pretty easy thing to do, and if you want more, go read the full patent application for this here.

While I like to play with the latest gadgets, I am even more interested in broad technology trends. With mobile now taking over the world - following the latest technology news, looking for insights, sharing and discussing them with passionate audience - it's hard to imagine a better place for me to be. You can find me on Twitter as @UVStaska'

I don't think this is anything new. I know laptop manufacturer's have been using special “tape” or other materials that change color when coming into contact with liquids. I have seen them try to deny claims for warranty work if they notice the color change.

KGee

I don't think this is anything new. I know laptop manufacturer's have been using special “tape” or other materials that change color when coming into contact with liquids. I have seen them try to deny claims for warranty work if they notice the color change.